192 THE JOrBNAL OF BOTANY 



WiUiamsonia " fruit " both as regards shape and size. It is, how- 

 ever, a young vegetative trunk, probably a " sproutling." The three 

 main points of particular interest about it are : — (1) It is the 

 smallest trunk of Bennettites yet known ; (2) It is the first Euro- 

 pean specimen to include v^ell-petrified young foliage ; (3) It is well 

 preserved, and elucidates some anatomical details of leaf- structure not 

 completely knovpn from the American specimens. The leaf -anatomy 

 is of the parallel-veined type with well differentiated upper and lower 

 surfaces. To the lower surfaces are attached masses of hairs which 

 almost simulate a tissue. The leaflets lie still folded in the bud. 



Me. J. A. Wheldon sends us a reprint of the very useful and 

 comprehensive paper " On the Collection, Taxonomy, and Ecology of 

 the Sphagna " which was published in the Lancashire and Cheshire 

 Naturalist for November, December, and January last. 



A PAPER by Dr. E. J. Salisbury entitled " The Ecology of Scrub 

 in Hertfoi'dshii-e : A Study in Colonization " appears in the Trans- 

 actions of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, xvii. pt. i. 

 issued in April, 



In the Naturalist for April the Rev. W. Johnson announces the 

 discovery on the shore rocks at St. Bees, Cumberland, of Sarco- 

 2'>yyenia gibha Nyl., a lichen new to Britain. 



The Annals of Botany issued in April contains an obituary 

 notice, with bibliography, of the late Ethel Sargant, by Dr. D. H. 

 Scott, and papers on " The Response of Pilobolus to Light," by 

 Rosalie Parr ; " The Structure of the Cytoplasm in the Cells of 

 Alicularia scalaris,^^ by M. F. Rivett ; " A Comparative List 

 of Fern Pinna-traces," by R. C. Davie ; " The Lactiferous System of 

 Hevea hrasiliensis and its Protective Function," by A. Sharpies ; a 

 systematic study of North American Convallariacece, by Dr. R. R. 

 Gates ; a paper on " Organic Plant Poisons-Phenols," by Winifred 

 Brenchley ; " Studies on the Embryo-sac and Fertilization in Oeno- 

 thera,'''' by M. Ishikawa; and some very interesting "Fragments of the 

 Flower Biology of Westralian Plants," by Oswald H. Sargent. 



The Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradenyia (vi. 

 part 4 : dated December 1917, but only lately to hand) contains an 

 enumeration, by Mr. T. Petch, of the plants included in two collec- 

 tions of medicinal seeds exported from Ceylon to Holland in 1762 

 and 1785 respectively : the first contained a hundred packets and was 

 sent to the Chamber of Delft ; the second, of a hundred and fifty, 

 went to the Botanic Garden at Leyden. The lists contain the 

 native names and the seeds, followed by those, often identical, in use 

 at the present day, and the scientific name of the plant. 



The Journal of the Linnean Society (Botany: xliv no. 296) 

 contains the Hooker Lecture, " On the Natural Classification of Plants 

 as exemplified in the Filicales," delivered by Prof. Bower last June ; 

 a paper on " Two Critical Plants of the Greek Flora " ( Thymus Sib- 

 thorpii Benth. and Grepis rutilans, sp. n.) ; and "A Systematic 

 Study of the North American Melanthacecs from the Genetic Stand- 

 point," by Dr. R. R. Gates. 



